Shoe.



C. C. BURNHAM.

SHOE.

APPLICATION FILED AuG.23. 1915.

1 06,749. Patentefi Nov. 28, 1916.

UNITED srau ns rnrniv'r rrron.

GHESTER C. BURNHAM, OF NORTH BROOKFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 IB.&,ZR

RUBBER 00., OF NORTH BROOKFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSA- CHUSETTS.

SHOE.

rename.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 11916.

Application filed August 23, 1915. Serial No. 46,851.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, CHESTER COLBY BURN- HAM, a citizen of the United States. residing at North Brookfield,in the county of lVorces ter and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Shoes, of

which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to shoes and parcan be readily stitched to the welt or middle sole. It has heretofore been impractical to produce a turn shoe having a rubber sole, because the known rubber soles could not be successfully secured to the uppers of single sole shoes, such as turn shoes, by the single faced stitches universally used in their manufacture.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a rubber sole which may be incorporated in a. turn shoe by the usual method of manufacture to the end that a comfortable and serviceable rubber soled turn shoe may be produced which will possess all of the desirable characteristics of rubber soles which are found in the other types of rubber soled shoes.

With this object in view the illustrated embodiment of the present invention consists in a rubber sole having a fibrous stitch receiving portion vulcanized to a rubber tread layer. By the term fibrous material is meant any material of strong fibrous texture, as leathe-r'or felt. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the fibrous portion of the sole is a layer of leather of sufficient thickness to be channeled and directly to the upper of a turn shoe in the customary method of making turn? Shoes. It

will however be understood that the im-" proved sole of this invention, while particularly useful in a turn shoe, may be advantageously employed in the manufacture of shoes of other types.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear more fully from the fol lowing description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings and will then be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings,l igure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of the sole of the present invention; Fig. 2 isan enlarged cross section of a portion of a shoe illustrat-ing the manner of securing the upper to the sole; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross section of a' portion of a completed shoe.

The improved process of making the sole and the shoe of this invention is not herein claimed but is made the subject matter of my co-pending application, Serial No. 32,450, filed June 5', 1915.

In the illustrated preferred embodiment of the invention, the rubber sole comprises a blank 2 of material having a strong fibrous texture such, for example, as leather or felt, to provide a firm body to receive and hold the upper securing stitches. I have also found that a strong fabric, such as canvas, can be employed to advantage for the blank 2 and be made to provide the stitch receiving structure. This blank, as shown, is preferably of the same size as an outsole and is of sufficient thickness to permit it to be channeled and shouldered by a suitable machine in the manner ordinarily practised in turn shoe making. When leather is, used for the blank 2', it is desirable to employ a vegetable or chemical tanned leather such as chrome leather, since it has been found by experiment that this kind of leather is adapted to withstand the degree of heat rea satisfactory vulcanization of the rubber to the blank 2 it may be found desirable to subject the blank to such treatment as will prevent the texture or quality of the blank material from being injured by the high degree of heat required for vulcanization. This is of particular importance when leather is used for the blank 2, since it has been found that superior results are ob tained when moisture and preferably all of the moisture is extracted from the leather blank before it is subjected to the vulcanizing heat. A comparatively thick layer of calendered or plastic rubber 5 or any of its well known compounds is applied to the lower or under face of the blank 2 and the whole vulcanized in any suitable vulcanizinto the rubber compound and forces the rubber compound through the apertures 3 in the blank, thus firmly locking the rubber and fibrous layer together by a plurality of inverted frusto-conical rivets or keys 7 integral with the rubber body in addition to the union of the two materials by vulcanization. V

In the use of the rubber sole above described in the manufacture of a turned shoe, as shown in the drawings, the relatively thin fibrous faced side of the sole is provided with a stitch receiving structure herein illustrated as a sewing channel 9 and a shoulder 12, the depth of the channel being substantially less than the thickness of the blank facing and the shoulder 12 preferably of such'depth asto allow a portion of the fiber facing to extend to the outer edge of the sole, thus obviating any tendency of the rubber portion of the sole to pull or tear away from the fiber facing. The shoe upper is lasted over the sole and secured by blind or single faced stitches 15 in the usual manner, the fibrous material 2 afl'ording a firm body to receive and hold the stitches. The fibrous body or blank 2 reinforces the rubber tread layer of the sole and prevents it from being distorted and misshaped during wear as often happens with the rubber soles now in use and retains the shape and neat appearance of theshoe. By reason of the stitch receiving structure bemg integral with the fibrous body, the strain transmitted to the sole through the stitches 1s resisted by the fibrous backing, thus provldlng a strong attachment of the upper to the sole. Moreover, the fiberfacing insulates the foot of the wearer from the objectionable sweating action caused by the rubber.

- It will be noted that the novel rubber sole herein disclosed is especially adapted to meet the peculiar conditions attendant upon the manufacture of turn shoes and may be utilized in the making of a rubber sole turn shoe with the same facility and according to the usual methods followed in the making of a leather sole turn shoe; and for the first time in the history of shoe making, a rubber sole turn shoe may be produced which will possess all of the advantages of the rubber sole in the way of economy, comfort and flexibility and also the recognized advantages of a turn shoe.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. As an article of manufacture, a sole for turn shoes consisting of a fibrous layer of sufiicient thickness to receive a channel and to beshouldered, and a relatively thick layer of rubber compound extending with substantially its full thickness the" entire width. of the sole and vulcanized to the fibrous. layer.

2. As an article of manufacture, a sole for turn shoes consisting of a stitch receiving layer of fibrous material channeled and shouldered on one side to receive upper securing stitches and having a plurality of apertures, and a tread layer of rubber compound vulcanized to the opposite side of the fibrous layer and having integral keys filling the apertures in the fibrous layer.

3. As an article of manufacture, a one piece turn shoe sole comprising rubber and fibrous plies vulcanized together and presenting a rubber tread face and a fibrous foot engaging face provided with a channeled and shouldered marginal edge.

4; As an article of manufacture, a sole for turn shoes comprisin portion having its upper slde provided with a stitch receiving structure raised with relation to a laterally adjacent portion of the sole and comprising fibrous material to adapt said structure to receive and hold single faced stitches for securing a shoe upper to the sole.

5. As an article of manufacture, a turn shoe comprising an upper, a sole consisting of a tread layer of rubber and a layer of fibrous material vulcanized to the rubber layer and provided with a channel and shoulder, and means for securing the upper to the channeled and shouldered portion of the sole.

6. As an article of manufacture, a turn shoe comprising a rubber sole having a channeled and shouldered fibrous backing vulcanized to it, and an upper secured to the sole by stitches passing through the channeled and shouldered fibrous sacking.

7. As an article of manufacture, a rubber sole turn shoe, comprising a sole having a a rubber body" iza moms-e upper to the sole, the fibrous backing ing so related to the stitch receiving structure that the backin resists the strains transmitted to the so e through the stitches.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

GHESTER G. BURNHAI/K. 

